Clam-digger



A. W. CRAGO.

CLAM BIGGER.

APPLICAHON FILED JULY 23. 1919.

1,336,2Q3Q Paiented Apr. 6, 1920 amvmvtoz Maw ARTHUR W. CRAGO, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

CLAM-DIGGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

, Application filed July 23, 1919. Serial No. 312,755.

To all 107mm, '1' 25 may concern.-

Be it known that I, ARTHUR CRAGo, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clam-Diggers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a clam digger, and more particularly to the class of clam di ging forks.

l he primary object of the invention is the provision of a fork of this character, wherein clams embedded in sand or the bed of a river can be freely and easily extracted without the possibility of the loss of any clams from the fork when withdrawn from the sand or river bed, the fork being of novel construction having a finger guard at its mouth end, the finger guard being pivotally supported so that the same can be swung upwardly to close the mouth end of the fork to avoid the working off the clams when the latter is withdrawn from the sand or the river bed.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a fork of this character wherein the finger guard is manually operated and the operating handle therefor is in convenient reach of the user of the fork so that it can be manipulated at will, whereby the fingers of the guard can be thrown into a plane with the plane of the tines of the'fork when the latter is to be inserted into sand or in a river bed for gathering or collecting clams and on extracting the fork the said finger guard can be thrown or swung to a position to close the outer end of the fork and thereby prevents the loss of the clams gathered upon said fork for the positive retention of the load of clams upon the latter.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a fork of this character, wherein the handle of the fork is readily adjust able to vary the length thereof to suit the fancy of the user of the said fork, and like wise the handle for the finger guard can be adjusted correspondingly to the adjustment of the handle of the fork to suit the requirement of the user.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a fork of this character, which is comparatively simple in construction, very reliable and efiicient in its purpose, strong, durable and inexpensive to manufacture.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention consists in the features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereunto appended.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a fork con structed in accordance with the invention, the finger guard being shown by full lines in normal position and by dotted lines in adjusted raised position.

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the fork.

F ig. 3 is a perspective view showing one of the end fingers of the finger guard and a portion of one of the connecting rods of the adjusting yoke therefor.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views in the drawings.

Referring to the drawing in detail, 5 designates the main frame of the body of the fork, 6 the outer side tines or limbs of said frame and 7 the intermediate tines which are integrally formed with the frame 5 and are curved downwardly and outwardly at 8, while formed intermediate of said frame 5 is a tubular shank 9 in the outer end of which is telescoped the stem 10 of an extensible handle having the yoke like handle grip 11 of the ordinary well known construction, the shank 9 being fitted in its underside with a set screw 12 which engages the stem 10 to adjustably fasten the extensible handle thus it being seen that the handle can be lengthened and shortened to suit the fancy of the user of the fork.

On the outer side tines or limbs of the main frame 5 of the fork is swingingly supported a finger guard which comprises outer and intermediate fingers 13 and 1% respectively, the intermediate fingers being spaced an equal distance apart and from the outer fingers 13, both outer and intermediate fingers being integrally formed with a cross connecting web or stringer bar 15, which is disposed transversely of the frame 5 crosswise of and beyond the free ends of the intermediate tines 7 thereof. The outer fingers 13 on the inner sides thereof at their inner ends are cut away to provide pivot ears 16 and likewise the outer side limbs or tines 6 of the frame 5 at their outer sides are cut away to provide companion pivot cars 17 which are overlapped by the cars 16 and passed through these ears 16 and 17 are ind-d transeverse pivots 18 so that the finger guard is pivotally mounted on the frame 5 for swinging movement, whereby the month end of the fork can be opened and closed by the uard.

The nger guard forms a continuation of the fork and the outer fingers 13 thereof in the outer sides. of the same have formed therein recesses 19, while the upper faces of these fingers 13 are provided with diagonally disposed grooves or channels 20 which intersect the recesses 19 and constitute seat for the diagonal portions 21 of the rods 22 of a raising and lowering yoke, each rod 22 being formed with terminal eyes 23, the outermost terminal eye of said rod 22 being located in the recess 19 and receives a pivot 24: which is also passed through the outer finger 13 so that said rod 22 is pivotally attached to the finger, while the other terminal eye 23 at the inner end of the rod 22 is pivoted at 25 to the triangular portion 26 of a combined operating and connecting rod 27 which is slidably mounted in a guide 28 carried on the shank 9 of the fork. Telescoped upon the free end of the combined operating and connecting rod 27 is the hollow stem 29 of an extensible handle 30 having the hand grip 31, the stem 29 being fitted with a set screw 32 for adjustably securing said stem upon the rod 27 and on reciprocat- 111g the operating rod 27 the yoke including the rods 22 will be moved for raising and lowering the finger guard including the fingers 13 and 141 at the mouth end of the fork.

l/Vhen the finger guard is in normal position in a plane with the plane of the outer ends of the intermediate tines 7 of the frame 5 the diagonal portions 21 of the rods 22 are seated within the channels or grooves 20 in the outer fingers 13 and in this manner the finger guard is prevented from swinging downwardly below the plane of the intermediate tines 7 of the frame 5 of the fork. Furthermore the finger guard is materially braced and held rigid in normal position so as to permit the scooping of clams within sand or a river bed.

Upon pulling on the hand grip 31 the finger guard including the fingers 13 and 1 1 is raised from normal position as shown no possibility of the slipping off of the clams from the fork when the same is extracted from the sand or river bed.

011 raising the finger guard to the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. l'of the drawing the mouth end of the fork is closedv thereby so as to retain the load upon said fork, whereby on manually; manipulating the fork the said load can be carried from one point to another without any possibility of the loss of the load from the fork.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction and manner of use of the fork will be clearly understood and therefore a more extended explanation has been omit-ted.

lVhat is claimed is:

1. A clam digger comprising a forked frame, a handle on said frame, a finger guard swingingly supported atthe mouth end of said frame, a yoke connected with the finger guard, means for actuating the yoke, a guide slida'bly supporting the actuating means, a handle on the actuating means, said yoke including a pair of rods having diagonal portions, the finger guard being formed with seats for the diagonal portions of said rod and a cross web forn ed in the finger guard.

2. A clam digger comprising a forked frame, an extensible handle on said forked frame, a finger guard pivotally connected to the forked frame at the month end thereof, a yoke pivotally connected to the finger guard, manually operable means for actuating' the yoke, and a guide carried by the extensible handle and slidably supporting the manually operable means, an extensible hande on the manually operable means, said yoke including a pair of rods having diagonal portions, the finger guard being formed with seats for the diagonal portions of said rod and a cross web formed in the finger guard.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature hereto.

ARTHUR WV. CRAGO. 

